Giffords makes plea for gun curbs

Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., displays a pledge called the "Sandy Hook Promise," referring to last month's shooting rampage at that killed 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington, during the committee's hearing on what lawmakers should do to curb gun violence. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Associated Press

Summary

Severely wounded and still recovering, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords begged lawmakers at an emotional hearing Wednesday to act quickly to curb firearms because "Americans are counting on you." Not everyone agreed, underscoring the national political divide over gun control.

p>WASHINGTON — Severely wounded and still recovering, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords begged lawmakers at an emotional hearing Wednesday to act quickly to curb firearms because "Americans are counting on you." Not everyone agreed, underscoring the national political divide over gun control.

Giffords' 80-word plea was the day's most riveting moment, delivered in a hushed, halting voice two years after the Arizona Democrat suffered head wounds in a Tucson shooting spree that killed six people.

At the same hearing, a top official of the National Rifle Association rejected Democratic proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and said requiring background checks for all gun purchases would be ineffective because the Obama administration isn't doing enough to enforce the law as it is.

Even if stronger background checks did identify a criminal, "as long as you let him go, you're not keeping him from getting a gun and you're not preventing him from getting to the next crime scene," said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president. He said poor enforcement is "a national disgrace."

Giffords, who retired from Congress last year, focused during her brief appearance on the carnage from armed assailants.

"Too many children are dying," she said at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now."

Guiding her in and remaining to testify was Mark Kelly, the retired astronaut who is Giffords' husband. The couple, who both owns guns, has formed a political action committee called Americans for Responsible Solutions that backs lawmakers who support gun restrictions.

"We're simply two reasonable Americans who realize we have a problem with gun violence and we need Congress to act," Kelly said.

Wednesday's session played out in a hearing room packed to capacity. While both sides appealed to their followers beforehand to arrive early and fill the room, most in the public audience of around 150 appeared to be gun-control sympathizers, including relatives of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

"There should be gun control," said Neeta Datt of Burtonsville, Md., who with Christa Burton of Silver Spring, Md., was first in line for public seats. Both are members of Organizing for Action, the Obama political organization that is now pushing his legislative agenda.

The hearing kicked off a year in which President Barack Obama and members of Congress are promising to make gun restrictions a top priority. Obama has already proposed requiring background checks for all gun sales and reviving both an assault weapons ban and a 10-round limit on the size of ammunition magazines, and several Democrats have introduced bills addressing those and other limitations.

After the hearing, Giffords and Kelly met privately with Obama at the White House.

At the Capitol, senators' remarks during the hearing illustrated the gulf between the two parties.

"Unfortunately in Washington, emotion I think often leads to bad policies," said Cruz, a freshman elected with strong tea-party backing. He said gun control efforts too often "restrain the liberties of law-abiding citizens," not criminals.

Republicans blamed the nation's gun troubles on a list of maladies including a lack of civility, violent video games and insufficient attention to people with mental problems.

Popular Comments

I remember Obama a few years ago visiting the border with Mexico and mocking
those who advocate better border enforcement. He pointed to the fence and said
that conservatives wanted to built a 100 foot fence, put in a moat, put
aligators in the
More..

8:42 a.m. Jan. 31, 2013

Top comment

Cris B.

Sandy, UT

What has barack decided he wants to do with his own kids?

Allow
people to carry guns to protect them or not?

Enough said.

8:54 a.m. Jan. 31, 2013

Top comment

mostevenings

Lebanon, IN

So how's that working in Chicagoland where exists the most restrictive gun
laws in the country?